The present invention relates to a bed system with an excreting mechanism for use by physically handicapped persons having difficulty excreting.
As an example of a bed with an excreting mechanism of this kind, the present inventor proposed a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Nos. sho 63-168159 and sho 63-240859. According to this technique, a base mounted on a bed is divided into a front base for receiving the upper half of a patient's body and a rear base for receiving the lower half of the patient's body. In excretion, the front edge of the front base is tilted up, and the front end portion of the rear base is raised for correcting the posture of the patient, to thereby position the patient's buttocks on an opening portion between the front base and the rear base. This makes it possible for the patient to excrete with respect to a chamber pot disposed under the opening portion.
The present inventor has studied a bed system with an excreting mechanism of the above-described type and has found that the above technique still has the following technical problem.
Namely, the patient is physically and psychologically uneasy when he is in an unstable position during excretion, and excretion is more difficult in such a position. The prior art, however, has not adequately addressed this point.
More specifically, in the prior art, the bed was tilted up or divided without taking into account the position of the patient lying on the bed. As a consequence, the patient's posture was unstable and he suffered discomfort and mental anguish during excretion.
Also, since the patient's buttocks were unstably positioned at the opening portion of the bed, the patient was often forced to excrete in an unnatural position.
Further, the prior art did not consider the posture of the patient when he is returned to his usual position in bed after excretion. It is possible in the prior art embodiment for the patient's buttocks to be pinched after excretion between the divided bases of the bed.